D

Question 1

dally

Answer 1

act or move slowly: workers were loafing, dallying, or goofing off.

Question 2

dandle

Answer 2

he dandled his little boy on his knee: bounce, jiggle, dance, rock.

Question 3

dandy

Answer 3

1 a man unduly devoted to style, neatness, and fashion in dress and appearance.
2 informal, dated an excellent thing of its kind: this umbrella is a dandy.
adjective ( dandier , dandiest )
1 informal excellent: upgrading seemed a dandy idea | things are all fine and dandy .
2 relating to or characteristic of a dandy.

Question 4

dearth

Answer 4

a dearth of trained specialists: lack, scarcity, shortage, shortfall, want, deficiency, insufficiency, inadequacy, paucity, sparseness, scantiness, rareness; absence. ANTONYMS surfeit.

Question 5

debrief

Answer 5

the team was debriefed by the company commander: cross-examine, interview, interrogate, question, probe, sound out, examine; informal grill, pump.

Question 6

debug

Answer 6

1 identify and remove errors from (computer hardware or software): games are the worst to debug | (as noun debugging) : software debugging.
2 detect and remove concealed microphones from (an area).
3 remove insects from (something), esp. with a pesticide.

Question 7

debunk

Answer 7

even the most successful hoax will eventually be debunked: explode, deflate, quash, discredit, disprove, contradict, controvert, invalidate, negate; challenge, call into question, poke holes in; formal confute. ANTONYMS confirm.

Question 8

decadence

Answer 8

moral or cultural decline as characterized by excessive indulgence in pleasure or luxury: he denounced Western decadence.
• luxurious self-indulgence: “French” connotes richness and decadence, and that’s the idea of this ice cream.

Question 9

decalogue

Answer 9

the Ten Commandments.

Question 10

decanter

Answer 10

a stoppered glass container into which wine is gradually poured

Question 11

decipher

Answer 11

1 he deciphered the code: decode, decrypt, break, work out, solve, interpret, unscramble, translate; make sense of, get to the bottom of, unravel; informal crack, figure out. ANTONYMS encode.
2 the writing was hard to decipher: make out, discern, perceive, read, follow, fathom, make sense of, interpret, understand, comprehend, grasp.

Question 12

decorum

Answer 12

1 he had acted with decorum: propriety, seemliness, decency, good taste, correctness; politeness, courtesy, good manners; dignity, respectability, modesty, demureness. ANTONYMS impropriety.
2 a breach of decorum: etiquette, protocol, good form, custom, convention; formalities, niceties, punctilios, politeness. ANTONYMS impropriety.

Question 13

decrepit

Answer 13

1 a decrepit old man: feeble, infirm, weak, weakly, frail; disabled, incapacitated, crippled, doddering, tottering; old, elderly, aged, ancient, senile; informal past it, over the hill, no spring chicken. ANTONYMS strong, fit.
2 a decrepit house: dilapidated, rickety, run-down, tumbledown, beat-up, ramshackle, derelict, ruined, in (a state of) disrepair, gone to rack and ruin; battered, decayed, crumbling, deteriorating. ANTONYMS sound.

Question 14

decry

Answer 14

she decried the double standards: denounce, condemn, criticize, censure, attack, rail against, run down, pillory, lambaste, vilify, revile; disparage, deprecate, cast aspersions on; informal slam, blast, knock. ANTONYMS praise.

Question 15

deduce

Answer 15

we can deduce from the evidence that Harding was indeed present at the time of the murder: conclude, reason, work out, infer; glean, divine, intuit, understand, assume, presume, conjecture, surmise, reckon; informal figure out.

Question 16

defector

Answer 16

Cuban defectors sought refuge in Miami: deserter, turncoat, traitor, renegade, Judas, quisling; informal rat.

Question 17

defray

Answer 17

the reserve funds are not enough to defray the additional costs: pay (for), cover, meet, square, settle, clear, discharge.

Question 18

defunct

Answer 18

the original contract is defunct: disused, unused, inoperative, nonfunctioning, unusable, obsolete; no longer existing, discontinued; extinct. ANTONYMS working, extant.

Question 19

delegate

Answer 19

union delegates: representative, envoy, emissary, commissioner, agent, deputy, commissary; spokesperson, spokesman, spokeswoman; ambassador, plenipotentiary.

Question 20

delineate

Answer 20

1 the aims of the study as delineated by the boss: describe, set forth/out, present, outline, sketch, depict, represent; map out, define, specify, identify.
2 a section delineated in red pen: outline, trace, block in, mark (out/off), delimit.

Question 21

delinquent

Answer 21

1 delinquent teenagers: lawless, lawbreaking, criminal; errant, badly behaved, troublesome, difficult, unruly, disobedient, uncontrollable. ANTONYMS well-behaved.
2 formal delinquent parents face tough penalties: negligent, neglectful, remiss, irresponsible, lax, slack, derelict. ANTONYMS dutiful.
noun
young delinquents: offender, wrongdoer, malefactor, lawbreaker, culprit, criminal; hooligan, vandal, mischief-maker, ruffian, hoodlum, lowlife, punk; young offender.

Question 22

demand deposit

Answer 22

a deposit of money that can be withdrawn without prior notice.

Question 23

demeanor

Answer 23

his normally calm demeanor: manner, air, attitude, appearance, look; bearing, carriage; behavior, conduct; formal comportment.

Question 24

denizen

Answer 24

formal the denizens of Grant’s Hollow were a quirky lot: inhabitant, resident, townsman, townswoman, native, local; occupier, occupant, dweller; archaic burgher.

Question 25

depose

Answer 25

1 the president was deposed: overthrow, unseat, dethrone, topple, remove, supplant, displace; dismiss, oust, drum out, throw out, expel, eject; informal chuck out, boot out, get rid of, show someone the door.
2 Law a witness deposed that he had seen me: swear, testify, attest, assert, declare, claim.

Question 26

deposition

Answer 26

1 Law depositions from witnesses: statement, affidavit, attestation, affirmation, assertion; allegation, declaration; testimony, evidence; rare asseveration.
2 the deposition of calcium: depositing, accumulation, buildup, precipitation.

Question 27

dermatology

Answer 27

the branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of skin disorders.

Question 28

desiccate

Answer 28

1 (usu. as adj. desiccated) remove the moisture from (something, esp. food), typically in order to preserve it: desiccated coconut.
2 (as adj. desiccated) lacking interest, passion, or energy: a desiccated history of ideas.

Question 29

despotic

Answer 29

a despotic regime: autocratic, dictatorial, totalitarian, absolutist, undemocratic, unaccountable; one-party, autarchic, monocratic; tyrannical, tyrannous, oppressive, repressive, draconian, illiberal. ANTONYMS democratic.

Question 30

despotism

Answer 30

the exercise of absolute power, esp. in a cruel and oppressive way: the King’s arbitrary despotism.
• a country or political system where the ruler holds absolute power.

Question 31

detrimental

Answer 31

erosion can have a detrimental effect on our water: harmful, damaging, injurious, hurtful, inimical, deleterious, destructive, ruinous, disastrous, bad, malign, adverse, undesirable, unfavorable, unfortunate; unhealthy, unwholesome. ANTONYMS benign.

Question 32

dexterity

Answer 32

1 painting china demanded dexterity: deftness, adeptness, adroitness, agility, nimbleness, handiness, ability, talent, skill, proficiency, expertise, experience, efficiency, mastery, delicacy, knack, artistry, finesse.
2 his political dexterity: shrewdness, astuteness, acumen, acuity, intelligence; ingenuity, inventiveness, cleverness, smartness; canniness, sense, discernment, insight, understanding, penetration, perception, perspicacity, discrimination; cunning, artfulness, craftiness; informal horse sense, savvy, street smarts.

Question 33

diatribe

Answer 33

a forceful and bitter verbal attack against someone or something: a diatribe against the Roman Catholic Church.

Question 34

dictate

Answer 34

1 the president’s attempts to dictate policy: prescribe, lay down, impose, set down, order, command, decree, ordain, direct, determine, decide, control, govern.

Question 35

dictation

Answer 35

1 (abbr.: dict. )the action of saying words aloud to be typed, written down, or recorded on tape: the dictation of letters.
• the activity of taking down a passage that is read aloud by a teacher as a test of spelling, writing, or language skills: passages for dictation.
• an utterance that is typed, written down, or recorded: the person who writes the dictation down is his agent.
2 the action of giving orders authoritatively or categorically.

Question 36

diffident

Answer 36

modest or shy because of a lack of self-confidence: a diffident youth.

Question 37

dilapidated

Answer 37

(of a building or object) in a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect.

Question 38

dire

Answer 38

1 the dire economic situation: terrible, dreadful, appalling, frightful, awful, atrocious, grim, alarming; grave, serious, disastrous, calamitous, ruinous, hopeless, irretrievable, wretched, desperate, parlous; formal grievous.
2 he was in dire need of help: urgent, desperate, pressing, crying, sore, grave, serious, extreme, acute, drastic.
3 dire warnings of fuel shortages: ominous, gloomy, grim, dismal, unpropitious, inauspicious, unfavorable, pessimistic.

Question 39

dis

Answer 39

speak disrespectfully to or criticize: I don’t like her dissing my friends | a campaign of forum postings and emails dissing the company. maybe you should stop dissing psychics and discover that part of yourself.
noun
disrespectful talk

Question 40

discernment

Answer 40

1 the ability to judge well: an astonishing lack of discernment.
2 (in Christian contexts) perception in the absence of judgment with a view to obtaining spiritual direction and understanding: without providing for a time of healing and discernment, there will be no hope of living through this present moment without a shattering of our common life.

Question 41

discordant

Answer 41

1 the messages from Washington and Ottawa were discordant: different, in disagreement, at variance, at odds, divergent, discrepant, contradictory, contrary, in conflict, conflicting, opposite, opposed, opposing, clashing; incompatible, inconsistent, irreconcilable. ANTONYMS harmonious, compatible.
2 discordant sounds: inharmonious, tuneless, off-key, dissonant, harsh, jarring, grating, jangling, jangly, strident, shrill, screeching, screechy, cacophonous; sharp, flat. ANTONYMS harmonious, dulcet.

Question 42

discretion

Answer 42

1 you can rely on his discretion: circumspection, carefulness, caution, wariness, chariness, guardedness; tact, tactfulness, diplomacy, delicacy, sensitivity, prudence, judiciousness.
2 his sentence would be determined at the discretion of the court: choice, option, preference, disposition, volition; pleasure, liking, wish, will, inclination, desire.

Question 43

disgruntled

Answer 43

angry or dissatisfied: judges receive letters from disgruntled members of the public.

Question 44

disheveled

Answer 44

(of a person’s hair, clothes, or appearance) untidy; disordered: a man with long, disheveled hair.

Question 45

disingenuous

Answer 45

that innocent, teary-eyed look is just part of a disingenuous act: insincere, dishonest, untruthful, false, deceitful, duplicitous, lying, mendacious; hypocritical.

Question 46

disseminate

Answer 46

much of our funding is used to disseminate information where it is most needed: spread, circulate, distribute, disperse, promulgate, propagate, publicize, communicate, pass on, put about, make known.

Question 47

distraught

Answer 47

deeply upset and agitated: a distraught woman sobbed and screamed for help | he appeared on television, grief-ravaged and distraught.

Question 48

divest

Answer 48

he intends to divest you of your power: deprive of, strip of, dispossess of, rob of, cheat out of, trick out of.

Question 49

divulge

Answer 49

he refused to divulge Father O’Neill’s whereabouts: disclose, reveal, tell, communicate, pass on, publish, broadcast, proclaim; expose, uncover, make public, give away, let slip; informal spill the beans about, let on about, let the cat out of the bag about. ANTONYMS conceal.

Question 50

docile

Answer 50

his docile children do everything he asks of them: compliant, obedient, pliant, dutiful, submissive, deferential, unassertive, cooperative, amenable, accommodating, biddable, malleable. ANTONYMS disobedient, willful.